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ITALIAN INDUSTRY OF BUILDING ADHESIVES LEADS ALSO IN INTERNATIONALISATION STRATEGIES
Even in the extremely specialised sector of building adhesives, 'Made in Italy' products stand out worldwide. The credit goes mostly to the first and second Italian players in the sector. However, to confine Mapei (www.mapei.it) and Kerakoll (www.kerakoll.com) to the mere Italian context would be limiting: Mapei is the largest global manufacturer of all sorts of flooring and covering adhesives and related products, and boasts an estimated turnover of 1.5 billion euros for 2007. Kerakoll is one of the leading global groups in the chemical constructions sector (adhesives, sealants, and chemical building products), with turnover that reached 280 million euros last year. Other important players in the sector are Adesital (www.adesital.it), the Group Mapei enterprise, geared to attack the market with medium range products, and Technokolla (www.technokolla.com) from Modena. Adesital was created in 1968 in Fiorano Modenese, in the eye of the ceramic hub of Sassuolo and became part of the Mapei group in 1985. Today, the square meters laid down with Adesital products have reached 300 million worldwide. The Fiorano Modenese factory, equipped with state-of-the art systems, produces over 100 thousand tons of finished products every year.
The international calling is the common denominator among companies in this sector, which includes several small- and medium-sized enterprises next to the industry giants. Mapei, for example, is present in 24 countries with 47 factories, including two new factories in Chulai (Danang), Vietnam and in Stupino in Russia that will be inaugurated by the end of 2007. Kerakoll - which makes 35% of its profits abroad - has a strong tendency towards internationalisation: It is currently directly present in 13 countries: Spain, Poland, Greece through local factories, while in Holland, the UK, France, Croatia, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Singapore, United States and New Zealand it has trading links through local partnerships or own branches. Technokolla, which can count on a smaller critical mass (whose annual turnover is below 50 million euros), exports to 80 markets.
The internationalisation strategy is not an easy route for those seeking to push "poor" products such as adhesives and chemical building materials - which have low unit but high transport costs - onto international markets. "In our case - explains Gianluca Sghedoni, Kerakoll general manager - internationalisation does not mean outsourcing: the high incidence of transport costs on our products makes it convenient not only to have commercial structures in key countries, but also to monitor them directly through factories serving local markets".
To cement its presence on the international stage, training is also a strategic card to play. Kerakoll, for instance, has been holding training courses across Europe for years. In the five years between 2002-2006, over 3,250 meetings were held and attended by 120 thousand professionals in the following proportions: 37% applicators, 35% designers, 25% building entrepreneurs, 3% superintendences.
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